Accused of failing to provide safety to customers and not having basic fire equipment
Initially, the police had registered an Accidental Death Report in the matter and after primary investigations, the NM Joshi Marg police registered an FIR this morning. Additional Commissioner of Police, Central region, S Jayakumar confirmed that an FIR had been registered in the matter. The FIR has named the manager and partners of 1 Above -- Hitesh Sanghvi, Jigar Sanghvi, Abhijit Mankar and others for not having proper emergency exits in place.
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Santosh Khedekar who is posted at NM Joshi Marg police station as a police Naik said, "Sea Grand Hospitality and Entertainment LLP and the manager and organiser failed to provide safety to their customers and did not even have proper firefighting equipment. The lone exit gate was so congested that people were unable to get out in time, resulting in them suffocating in the smoke."
One of the victims being brought out
Avinash Supe, dean of KEM hospital where the dead and injured were taken to, said, "Twelve people were brought to KEM hospital with superficial burns, ranging from 3 to 20 percent. All were provided treatment and discharged. Fourteen people died from suffocation; they had superficial burns. We have taken blood samples from the deceased for chemical analysis."
Currently, three injured are still admitted at the hospital but are in stable condition with minor injuries. Others were taken to Bhatia hospital and Masina hospital for treatment, but no one is seriously injured.
Siddharth Mahadevan, who owns the Mojo Bistro, said, "I was at my Karjat farmhouse when this happened. I'm really shocked with the incident. It's a restaurant that's run by my friends and I only help them financially. But, the moment I heard about it I rushed back to Mumbai. I'm glad that we had a fire drill a week ago and our staff managed to evacuate the place as soon as they saw the flames. I'm deeply upset about the incident."
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